"The Auckland Mayoral Forum is entitled to feel that it has completely wasted 16 months talking to a Government which has not had its act together," National's Belinda Vernon and Murray McCully said today.

"The region's leaders have acted in good faith, but with a growing sense of frustration that the Government was not engaging.

"If today's announcement represents a better approach why has the Government wasted 16 months and a great deal of goodwill before advancing it? Given the performance of the Government to date, there will need to be a significant improvement now that the Government, rather than the region, is in the driving seat.

"We hope that today's announcement signals that the Government is going to start getting serious about Auckland's transport needs."

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